Ruby, Oklahoma

E116332

Ruby, Oklahoma is the fictional all-Black town in Toni Morrison’s novel "Paradise," serving as the central setting where the story’s complex social, historical, and spiritual conflicts unfold.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Ruby, Oklahoma canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fictional location in the United States
fictional town
literary setting
appearsInWork Paradise
associatedWithEvent attack on the women at the Convent
centralSettingOf Paradise
country United States of America
surface form: United States
createdBy Toni Morrison
firstAppearanceYear 1997
foundedBy descendants of residents of Haven, Oklahoma
governedBy male town elders
hasFoundingMyth origin story tied to rejection by lighter-skinned Black communities
hasInternalDivision gender conflict between male leaders and women
generational conflict between elders and younger residents
hasNarrativePerspective depicted through multiple shifting points of view in Paradise
hasNarrativeStructureRole anchor point for multiple interwoven character histories
hasNarrativeTimeframe primarily set in the 1960s and 1970s
hasNearbyLocation the Convent
hasReligiousCharacter deeply Christian community
hasSocialOrder strictly hierarchical community norms
languageOfWork English
literaryGenreContext contemporary American fiction
literaryMovementContext African American literature
literaryUniverse works of Toni Morrison
locatedIn Oklahoma
namedAfter Ruby Best
narrativeFunction site of historical reckoning
site of social conflict
site of spiritual conflict
partOfSeries Toni Morrison’s loose trilogy with Beloved and Jazz
populationCharacteristic founded by families with dark skin who faced colorism
predecessorSettlement Haven, Oklahoma
publicationContext introduced to readers through Alfred A. Knopf’s publication of Paradise
racialComposition all-Black town
symbolizes Black self-determination
insularity and exclusion
the limits of utopian projects
themeAssociated community
exile
gender
memory
patriarchy
race
religion
utopia and dystopia
violence

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Paradise mainSetting Ruby, Oklahoma